


Encounters of a Swampy Kind

by crime_lord_amidala



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aangst, Time Travel, and if they'd be proud of you, but also me wanting to tell aang about how he's not the last one, but also technically not, more like time visions, this is kind of angst about not knowing your ancestors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 08:07:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25560046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crime_lord_amidala/pseuds/crime_lord_amidala
Summary: Aang sees not one, but two visions in the swampsorTime isn't real in the spirit world, and the same applies to the swamps
Comments: 17
Kudos: 335





	Encounters of a Swampy Kind

The swamp was hot, and damp, and sticky, and even Aang was having a hard time keeping cool. Appa had crashed somewhere further out, and they were stranded in this strange and eerie forest for the foreseeable future.

The smell of rotting eggs seeped into their clothes, and it felt as if they’d never be rid of the odour.

Every shadow crept into their peripheral vision, disappearing when they sought its source. The croak of a badgerfrog almost sounded like a distant roar. The swaying of the trees like whispers, dancing on the welcome breeze as the trees creaked and moaned.

Almost as if they were in conversation with one another.

Aang could hear laughter in the breeze, and was surprised to see a girl, dressed in white fine silk, stood on the bows of a tree, staring down at him with cloudy white eyes. Her hair was done up with jewels, and she hugged a silk sash around her arms. After a moment, Aang realised that she wasn’t staring at him, but that she was staring at something else.

She laughed, and ran along the branch, disappearing behind the main trunk, kicking up clumps of moss as she went.

“Hey!” He jumped upwards, abandoning Katara and Sokka. They could survive on their own for a few minutes, right? “Come back!”

The girl was now stood on an even higher branch, running with glee, closely followed by a boar with wings. He gave chase, wanting to ask her what she wanted, why she was here, until he landed face to face with an entirely different girl.

She was around his age, maybe a little older, her wide grey eyes staring at him in shock. Her face was round, and her hair pulled up into two buns, the hair that didn’t fit into them framing her face. Her clothes were weird. Red, like the fire nation, but the two wings attached to her arms were clearly meant for flight.

“Hi!” He grinned, bowing. “I’m Aang. What are you doing in the swamp?”

The girl huffed, clearly not impressed. “Jinora this isn’t funny! Stop making the spirits play tricks on me!” She shouted up into the trees, marching straight past him. “Stupid sister, thinking she’s so great, just cause she got her tattoos.”

Aang almost froze. “You’re an airbender?”

“Obviously.” She sat down on a root as it rose up from the water, clipping the wings onto her chest, out of the way. “We’re on an important mission, to find the Avatar. Maybe you’ve seen her?”

Avatar?  _ Her? _

“Well I don’t know about a  _ her _ , but I-”

“Hey, why are  _ you _ dressed like an air nomad? Are you one of those crazy acolytes who get tattoos without learning a single form? My dad told me about you guys. All show and no respect for traditions.” She grumbled.

“No. I’m an airbender. See?” He did the marble trick.

That seemed to convince her, and at least take some of the apparent dislike for him away. “Oh. I’ve never seen you around the temples, and the only airbenders with tattoos alive are my dad and Jinora.”

Her dad? So there were more? Maybe she was like him, out of time. “So I’m not the only airbender?”

She wasn’t listening. “Maybe you’re some kind of swamp vision. You do kinda look like my grandfather. But why would the spirits even show me you? You died before I was born. There’s no way I’d even know what you look like at this age. There was no photography yet.” She got up, pulling back foliage so she could walk along an overgrown path, carefully avoiding the small forests of mushrooms growing underfoot.

“Uh, actually I’m quite alive. Me, that is. Avatar Aang, the last airbender, or so I thought.”

“I know who you are, I just don’t get why I can see you.” She frowned, looking back on him. “Grandma did say the swamp did strange things to her mind when she was here. That’s what you are! A hallucination of my dead Grandfather! I don’t know why you’re a child, but we can work this out later.”

“Who was your grandfather?” He asked, now dreading the answer.

“Avatar Aang.” She announced proudly. “I’m Ikki, but you already knew that, because you’re just in my head.”

“So I succeed? In stopping the war?”

She scoffed. “Obviously. But if you really are Avatar Aang, you’d be Korra. Maybe the swamp got confused, and it’s showing me you instead.”

“Is Korra-” He began.

“Oh spirits did you  _ eat _ Korra? Is she inside you?” She grabbed his face and pried his mouth open. “Korra! Don’t worry! I’m going to get you out of there!” She shouted into his open mouth.

Aang pushed her off. “I didn’t eat Korra! I’m a vegetarian, anyway. If you’re from the future, can you tell me how I end the war?”

“You master all four elements and defeat the firelord. Obviously.” Ikki walked away again, now searching for something. “Hey, can I ask  _ you _ something?”

“Uh, yeah. Sure.”

She hesitated, then began talking at a rapid pace. “Jinora’s all cool with her spirit-y powers, and Meelo invented a new type of airbending, and dad’s educating a whole new generation of airbenders, but I feel like I’m not doing enough. I know you’re only a kid version of my grandfather, but I want to know if you’d be proud of me too. I’m only average, but-”

“Yes.” Aang said it without thinking. “I think you’re older than me, but if you’re my granddaughter, I’d be proud of you, whatever you did.”

She smiled, eyes welling up as if she were about to cry. “Thanks, swamp-hallucination-Aang. That means a lot.”

“Ikki! Where are you? We found Korra!” A voice shouted from the top of the trees. “You better not have run off again!”

“That’s my cue. Can’t keep Jinora waiting.” She grinned. “Bye, swamp-hallucination!” She waved, and clipped her wings to her arms again, jumping upwards.

The air caught beneath her suit’s wings, and she soared upwards, manoeuvring through the trees with more precision than a glider. “Bye, Ikki!”

“Who’s Ikki?” Sokka’s voice asked from next to him. “Is she your swamp girlfriend?”

“I think she’s an airbender.” He smiled. “I’m not the last.”

“Wait, what?” Sokka grabbed him by the shoulders. “Why aren’t you going after her?”

“I’ll meet her. Eventually.” He looked through the trees, tears brimming in his eyes.

“Woah, dude. Are you crying?”

“It must be the swamp. Does weird things to your mind.” He shrugged. “Come on. Let’s go find Katara.”

Aang felt lighter as he walked. He wasn’t the last.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is @owlsantuary if you want to come and say hi!


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